Will you share a little bit about yourself and your journey towards becoming a writer?Thank
you for inviting me to participate in this interview. I’m really
excited about this blog tour. I’m grateful to the Sydney Taylor award
committee for Naamah’s honor.My
journey to becoming a writer was a bit slower than some writers I know.
I wasn’t one of those writers who knew she wanted to become a writer as
child.I’ve
always loved to read. I’ve always loved stories of all kinds, good and
bad. But I didn’t begin to write seriously until I became an
eighth-grade English teacher.My
students wrote poems, short stories, and essays. They researched,
wrote, and illustrated their own nonfiction picture books and other
work. They held poetry readings. They kept writing journals. They
published their work to the school’s award-winning literary magazine,
which I co-advised.It
felt good to see my students grow as writers. They inspired me to
practice what I preached. As they wrote poems and stories and essays, I
did, too. Our classroom became one large writing group. They brought
their work to class; sometimes I brought mine. Together, we would figure
out what makes a good story and how to make a story better.The
first big discovery that a writer makes is her voice and audience. My
students helped me discover that I wanted to write for young readers.I
sold my first story to Highlights for Children in 1989. By 1997, I had
published short stories, two picture books, and a nonfiction book. I had
a novel and another nonfiction book under contract.The time had come for a difficult decision.For eighteen years, I had a career that I loved – teaching. Was it time for another? Could I make it as a full-time writer?“Leap and the net will appear,” a friend told me. (That friend was Laurie Halse Anderson.)And I did.And it did.I’m lucky to work that my hands, my head, and my heart love.What inspired you to write the story of Naamah?A very old wooden ark that sits on a shelf in my dining room.

Susan sent me this photo of her old wooden ark.

As a little girl, when I visited my grandmother – my father’s mother – I played with the ark.I
lined up the animals, two by two, and boarded them safely. I imagined
the falling rain. The rising floodwaters. The ark tossing and turning on
the churning sea.The
ark now sits on a shelf in my dining room. One day, several years ago, I
found that my imagination turned to Noah’s wife. In the book of
Genesis, we’re told that Noah was a just man, full of grace, who pleased
God. But who was Noah’s wife and what kind of a person was she?I
began to imagine this woman who spent more than a year on an ark filled
with animals. I began to ask: what did she think when Noah told her his
plan? How did she feel packing her house? When the rain began to fall?
Surely the neighbors must have noticed. What did they think as Noah
hammered and sawed away? When Noah gathered the animals? What did her
sons and her daughters-in-law think? How did it feel when the
floodwaters rose? What did it feel like to leave all those terrified
people behind? What was life like on the ark?The
answers to these questions led me to write different versions of the
story. None of those versions “worked,” and so I tucked the story away.
It sat in my drawer for many years. Every so often, I’d return to the
story and try again.Then one day, I realized that I wasn’t asking the right question: What was Noah’s wife’s name?Many
people have suggested various names over the years. In 1941, an
American scholar named Francis Utley listed 103 different names for
Noah’s wife.From
my research, I learned that some rabbinical legends tell us that Noah’s
wife was called Naamah because her deeds were pleasant. (These legends
also tell of another Naamah whose name meant “great singer.”)I
liked that, and the interpretations of the name Naamah helped me
imagine her personality and her talents. They helped me imagine how a
woman might have inspired and comforted her husband and their three sons
and their wives, the animals, and herself during all those days and
nights afloat.Perhaps Naamah sang.You
explain at the end of the book that you chose the ancient poetic form
of the ghazal for this book. What inspired you to do so? Why did that
format fit in with the story of Naamah for you?A
few years ago, I heard my friend and colleague Molly Peacock read a
poem that she termed a “sonnet-ghazal.” Molly’s hauntingly beautiful
poem gave me goosebumps.I
knew what a sonnet was, but I didn’t know what a ghazal was. As I read
more ghazals and learned more about them, I felt drawn to the form for
Naamah’s story. Once the story had a form and Naamah had a name, the
words poured out in the first draft, with little revision and very few
changes after that.Strictly
speaking, a ghazal (pronounced “guzzle”) comes to us from the Middle
East. It’s an Arabic word that means, “talking to women” and the
subject of a ghazal is usually longing and loss. (How perfect is that
meaning for Naamah’s story?)The traditional ghazal is so beautiful! You can find examples by conducting an internet search online.Many Western poets take liberties with the traditional form, as did I.What is your own favorite children's book or books? Do you read and find inspiration in other authors' work?I continue to read and to write a lot of poetry. I always try to read the most recent Best American Poetry Series.I
don’t have a favorite children’s book. I love so many! I’m presently
reading Jack Gantos’s Dead End In Norvelt. (I’ve already laughed out
loud twice!) Another book I loved from last year was Gary Schmidt’s Okay
for Now.There's
a great deal of variety in the subjects of your books - a lot of
historical fiction but also some sillier subjects like some of your
picture books.I am equal parts silly and serious. How do you come up with new and different ideas for your work?One
of my grad-school professors once remarked that I have a “lively
intellect,” and I suppose that’s true. I’m curious. I ask a lot of
questions (which can be annoying). I have a passionate desire to learn
more and to puzzle things out. I enjoy the intellectual process and the
physical process. I like fitting the pieces together, thinking in new
ways – and this always leads to new ideas.How did Naamah fit into the other books you've written?For me, Naamah story’s was the perfect emotional arc to They Called Themselves the K.K.K.I
often write about tragic and dark times in history. In my other work,
I’ve explore the lives of the disenfranchised, the exploited, the
victimized, and the silenced -- from the pain of child labor in Growing
Up in Coal Country and Kids on Strike!, to the trauma of famine of Black
Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, to the horrors of the
Third Reich in Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow and The Boy
Who Dared, to racial violence in They Called Themselves the K.K.K. is a
continuation of this interest.Authors
often say that their books are like children to them, and they’re
right. As I researched and wrote about these things, the subject matter
kept me up at night, made me cry and made me angry, made me worry, and
made me frustrated, and yet my research inspired me and filled me with
wonder and awe at the courage of the human spirit.And
yet, I wonder: How do people survive dark times? Perhaps by holding on
to hope and faith and trust through the night, just as Naamah must have
done.Holly’s
art is awesome, in the true sense of the word. I love how she depicts
Naamah moving through the night, carrying that candle. That’s the
answer, isn’t it? To shine a light on the darkness and to keep moving.

The illustrations are truly gorgeous.

How do you find that you best create a balance for yourself in your family life and writing?[Insert maniacal laughter here.]It’s hard.Writing is pretty all-consuming.I
believe we make the time to do the things we really want to do. I want
to write books, and so I make the time to write. I want to spend time
with my family, and so I make that time, too.Sometimes
the balance needs an adjustment. I’m on a tight deadline right now, and
the other day, my very grownup daughter and mother of three under three
said, You know, Mom. I really hate it when your characters see you
more than I do.I’ve got her and the grandbabies penciled in.A huge thank you to Susan for participating in this blog book tour, and mazel tov on your award! Please don't forget to visit the rest of the STBA Blog Book Tour at www.jewishlibraries.org/blog.

*The Sydney Taylor Book Award
is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that
authentically portray the Jewish experience. Presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries
(AJL) since 1968, the Award encourages the publication and widespread
use of quality Judaic literature. Gold medals are presented in three
categories: Younger Readers, Older Readers, and Teen Readers. Honor
Books are awarded silver medals, and Notable Books are named in each
category. Thirty-three outstanding books were selected from among the
over one hundred and twenty titles evaluated by the Sydney Taylor Book
Award Committee during 2011. The Committee recommends them for library,
classroom, and home use. List of all 2012 Award, Honor, and Notable Books.

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What's an Ima? What's a Bima?

Ima is Hebrew for "mom."Bima is the platform from which a Jewish prayer service is led. Rabbis typically stand on the bima to lead services.I'm a rabbi and mama...sometimes I'm up on the bima and sometimes I'm not...(Want to email me? imabima (at) gmail.com)Want to hear the other guy's perspective? Check out my husband, the Abba Sababa.